Alexander Kent - The Only Victor

The officer who stepped forward to present himself wore the epaulette of commander. He was old for his rank and had possibly been passed over for captain.

"I bid you welcome, Sir Richard."

Bolitho smiled briefly. Allday was right. There were no secrets.

"Where is the Commodore?" He glanced up at the curling pendant. "Is he unwell?"

The commander, whose name was Maguire, looked uncomfortable. "He sends his apologies, Sir Richard. He awaits you in his cabin."

Bolitho nodded to the other officers and turned aside to Jenour. "Remain here. Discover what you can." He patted his arm but did not smile. "I am certain Allday will do likewise! "

Maguire led the way to the companion ladder and almost bowed as Bolitho walked aft, where a Royal Marine sentry drew his heels together with the precision of a bolt snapping shut.

There was nothing slack about the old Themis. It was just as if she did not belong. Maybe too many tasks in far-flung stations, too long away from home. As far as Bolitho could gather, the ship had not returned to England for fifteen years, so God alone knew what state her lower hull was in.

The screen doors were opened by a black servant and Bolitho received another surprise. During her role as accommodation ship they must have removed some of the armament from aft to enlarge the officers' quarters. Now, with her gunports filled only with wooden "quakers," the shortened muzzles of which might deceive another vessel at long-range, or even a landsman walking on a dockside, the after accommodation was huge, and contained nothing more war-like than furniture and a stand of muskets.

Commodore Arthur Warren walked from a screened-off cabin and exclaimed, "Sir Richard. What must you think of me?"

Bolitho was shocked by what he saw. He had never really known Warren as a friend, but he guessed him to be about his own age. But the officer in the loose-fitting coat, whose lined face had somehow defied the suns of so many fierce climates, was an old man.

The door closed, and apart from the watchful servant, who wore a red waistcoat above his duck trousers, they were alone. The elderly commander had taken his leave without dismissal. It was no wonder that the confident Captain Varian had seen this squadron as his own future responsibility.

Bolitho said, "Please be seated." He waited while the other officer beckoned to his servant and some finely-cut Spanish goblets were filled with red wine. Warren then seated himself. One leg was thrust out, as if in pain, his left hand hidden beneath his coat. He was not sick, Bolitho thought. He was dying.

Bolitho raised his goblet. "Your health, sir. Everyone seems to know I am here, even though the news of Trafalgar has not reached them."

The wine was rough and brackish, but he barely noticed it.

Once he had been a flag captain to RearAdmiral Sir Charles Thelwall in the big three-decker Euryalus. Bolitho had been made to work doubly hard because his admiral's health had deteriorated over the months at sea. He had admired Thelwall and had been saddened to see him step ashore for the last time with only a short

while left to live. Bolitho was only glad that the admiral had been spared what had happened that year, the mutinies throughout the fleet at the Nore and Spithead, Plymouth and Scotland. No captain had ever forgotten. Nor would they, unless they were inviting disaster.

But the admiral had looked and sounded like Warren now. As he swallowed some wine he struggled to contain a deep, tearing cough, and when he took his handkerchief from his lips Bolitho knew the stains on it were not all wine.

"I would not trouble you, sir, but if you wish I could send for another surgeon from Truculent. He seems an excellent man from the talks I had with him."

Warren 's face stiffened with pathetic determination. "I am well enough, Sir Richard. I know my duty! "

Bolitho looked away. This ship is all he has. The temporary title of commodore the only triumph he has known. He tried to harden his mind, to shut out the pity he could feel and understand.

He said, "I have sent a despatch to the main squadron. I am ordered here to withdraw certain ships for service in home waters." He thought he saw a small gleam of hope in Warren 's faded eyes and added gently "Frigates, not this ship. There has to be a strategy for taking and then defending Cape Town, without prolonging it, into a siege which only the Dutch can win."

Warren said huskily, "The army won't like that, Sir Richard. Sir David Baird is said to be a forceful general."

Bolitho thought of the letter locked in his strongbox aboard Truculent. Not signed by some senior Secretary or Lord of Admiralty; not this time. It was signed by the King, and even though the uncharitable hinted amongst themselves that His Majesty often did not know what he was putting his signature to these days, it still held the ultimate power and opened all doors.

"I shall cross that bridge in due course. In the meantime I would like to shift to this ship." He held up his hand as Warren made to protest. "Your broad pendant will still fly. But as someone once said, I need room to bustle in! "

Warren held down another bout of coughing and asked, "What must I do? You have my word that I will serve you well. And if Captain Varian has told you-"

Bolitho retorted calmly "I have been in the King's service since I was twelve. Somewhere along the way I learned to form my own opinions." He stood up and walked to an open port and stared along the false wooden muzzle at the nearest ship, another frigate. "But I have to tell you, Commodore Warren, I'll not waste anyone's life, because we have not tried to do our best. Throughout the navy, loyal seamen and marines, officers too, will be shocked and disappointed that after Trafalgar, victory is not complete. In my view it will take years before the tyranny of France and her jackals is finally routed! "

He realised that Warren and the silent servant were both staring at him and that he had raised his voice.

He forced a smile. "Now I must ask you to forgive me. It is just that I have seen so many fine ships lost, brave men dying for the wrong reasons, some cursing those who despatched them in the first place. While I direct what is to be done here, those who forget the hard lessons of war will answer to me." He picked up his hat.

"Just as one day I will answer to God, I have no doubt."

"A moment, Sir Richard! " Warren seized his own hat from the black servant and followed him into the shadows of the halfdeck.

Before they reached the entry port he said in his halting tones, "I am honoured, Sir Richard." His voice was suddenly firmer than Bolitho had heard before. "I am unused to this sort of work, but I will do all I can. So shall my people! "

Jenour saw Bolitho's grave smile as he walked out into the strange sunlight. It gave him a twinge of excitement, like those other times, when up to now he had been expecting a dull and undemanding role for the man he had always looked up to, even before he had laid eyes on him.

When he had told his parents in Southampton that he intended one day to personally serve Bolitho in some capacity, they had chuckled at his innocence. The chuckles had gone now. There was only the concern which was the legacy of all those with young sons away at war.

Commodore Warren walked off to seek his commander; his cut-down Themis did not warrant a flag captain apparently. Bolitho took his flag lieutenant aside.

"We are coming aboard, Stephen." He saw no surprise on Jenour's open features. "For the present at least. Fetch the others from Truculent… I fear that Mr Yovell will be writing throughout the night. And find a good signals midshipman aboard this ship-it does not look well to employ strangers. Tomorrow I want all captains on board at eight bells, so warn them before nightfall. Send the guardboat if you will."